Skirmishers

[Bragallot]

In an attempt to make the Bull army more diversified, I turned about half of their crossbowmen into javelineers, who will have a special skirmish ability. They're currently receiving their first 'field test' in 'After the Rift'. The Falx have had similar units in the past (in Freedom's blood I think) but their skirmish ability never came into play.

Stats:

Javelineers Mo: 6" Sk: 1d6 Ar: 5
- Javelins Ra: 7" UR: 3 Da: 1d6+1 (random objects in cc)
- Shields UR: 2 Pa: 1d6
Skirmishing: may retreat out of melee combat without facing response attacks or losing their action. If they haven't moved on their previous turn they may retreat out of reach of melee attackers when attacked. If the attackers have enough move left to stay close enough to attack however, the javelineers will still have to face the attack.

The idea is they have shorter range and lower damage than crossbowmen but they're a little bit faster and they can avoid melee combat sometimes - charging infantry and cavalry could still be able to catch them, especially with angry inches. I've contemplated taking the extra move or an armour point away if it turns out to be too powerful, but I don't know about that yet. I'm also not sure if I'm going to go with 'they can retreat if they haven't moved on their previous turn' or 'they can always retreat, but only for a maximum of 3" '. So what do you think?

[Zupponn]

So you could have some Skirmishers behind some heavy infantry, have the Skirmishers move forward, attack in melee, and then retreat to allow the heavy infantry to get in the fray.

[Bragallot]

I suppose you could - since the javelins count as random objects in close combat and squad combat is simultaneous (meaning that they would have to face counters if they attacked in cc) it wouldn't be exactly ideal though. Maybe that's a good idea for a more melee-oriented skirmish unit though. The idea was that they would be good at kiting heavier, slower units and hitting them at range. Since they have to get closer to the enemy to attack, the skirmish ability keeps them from getting pinned down in melee unlike archers who are doomed pretty much any time a squad closes for close combat.

[stubby]

I might instead say this:

Hit and Run: In place of any Attack or Counter, a Skirmisher in Close Combat (who has not been Grabbed) may Bail without triggering Counterattacks or being Disrupted. If Bailing takes them out of range of their opponent's attacks (including the Angry Inch), then any attack that the Skirmisher was Bailing away from misses, and the Skirmisher successfully escapes the Close Combat. If it's his own turn, he can continue moving around as normal. Unlike Withdrawing, Bailing always uses up the unit's Action.

[Bragallot]

Sounds feasible, I'll play-test that too. How would it work for squads though?

[*CRAZYHORSE*]

I guess you just roll one die for the entire squad. right?

[stubby]

Hmm, not sure. I kind of want to say that everyone in a Skirmisher squad gets a separate roll, and some of them get away and some don't, but that seems to add a lot more complexity than I like. On the other hand, having an entire squad succeed or fail at the same time seems unsatisfying to me.

[*CRAZYHORSE*]

Shouldn't you just be able to choose to retreat as a squad or disband the squad upon retreat.
That way you can totally gable all or nothing or disperse your losses. Besides sometimes one is more appropriate/fun then the other depending on size of the battle and time consumption.

It's also harder for an entire squad to run because the distance bailed is measured from the center of the squad. So if a squad is quite big the guys in the rear may still be vulnerable to getting stabbed in the back.

[Legofighter]

Sorry for

I think it would be much simpler to follow either of the 2 following options:
-All skirmishers get a special ability called "Skirmisher" or something like that, said ability allowing them to withdraw without drawing counters, though this seems unbalanced somehow.
or
-The officer rolls for the whole squad (if there's no officer, either or say they're not able to withdraw). However, this option has the following problem:

having an entire squad succeed or fail at the same time seems unsatisfying to me.

However, there's an alternative that could be much more satisfying, without being too complicated:
The officer rolls for the whole squad, and must beat a certain number if he wants the whole squad to withdraw (say 4 for a squad of less than 8, 5 for a squad of less than 12, 6 for a squad less than 16, and so on, or it could just be beating the opposing squad's officer's roll)
-If he succeeds the roll, everyone withdraws.
-If he critfails, nobody withdraws (with the added consequence that they're all drawing counters from the enemy).
-Now, if he doesn't critfail but doesn't succeed, the number of troops that don't escape is the difference between the skill roll and the difficulty, times (squad size/8), rounded up.
(example: the squad has 12 troops in and the officer rolls a 4. That is 2 under the difficulty, so the number of troops that don't withdraw is 2 * (12/8 rounded up), which gives 4)

[stubby]

I like this, but simpler still:

When an Officer orders the Withrawal, he rolls 1d8. This is the number of units that successfully Withdraw without drawing Counters.

[Legofighter]

There would be a slight problem for bigger squads, even though that is (generally) a rare occurrence...

[stubby]

By design. Bigger Squads are naturally less nimble. Making a slick coordinated disengagement with 100 units should be impossible compared to disengaging, say, 4.

[Legofighter]

Would that skill work against cavalry?

[stubby]

It could work in theory, but unless they jumped immediately into cover or something the cavalry would just immediately run them down again on the following turn, successful Withdrawal or not.

[Legofighter]

That's what I thought. Now, what if the withdrawing unit had more men than their opponent?
All that don't have an opponent should auto-withdraw, and only then does the officer roll start coming into effect...
Example, to clarify my idea:
A unit of 5 skirmishers is attacked by 3 guards, and their officer rolls a 2. Only one of them does not withdraw (5 is 2 greater than 3, so 2 auto-withdraw and the roll of 2 lets 2 more withdraw, for a total of 4).
(if he had rolled a 1, only 2 would have escaped (critfail, but those that don't have an opponent auto-succeed))